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They did, and saw that their path was erratic, carrying theed, and then up to circle around a h a terrain of clouds Eventually they spun and headed, once more, toward Liraz and Ziri

They watched the stormhunter coure flying along with it was not its only co it He hadn’t noticed theht

"Is that--?" he began, dumbfounded

"I think it is," breathed Liraz

It was And, catching sight of Liraz and Ziri, they gave sharp cries in their strange hue Ziri could, of course, not understand what they said, but the note of victory was plain, as was the pure, delirious joy

And who could blame theoing to be legends

80

A CHOICE

Akiva didn’t knoas happening to hi for Karou

And then he wasn’t

Time stuttered

"There is the past, and there is the future," he had said to his brothers and sisters not long ago "The present is neverone fro There was only the present, and it was infinite The past and the future were just blinders ore so that infinity wouldn’t drive usto him?

He had lost awareness of his body He was inside that realm of mind, the private universe, the infinite sphere of hiic, but he hadn’t come here of his own accord, and couldn’t rise back out

Had he been put here?

There was a sense of presence A feeling that voices were passing just out of reach He couldn’t hear the at the surface of his awareness As the drag of fingers on the far side of silk They were in discord

Energies vied Not his own

His oas coiled, clenched This hat he knew, this was all he knew: He was not where he needed to be Karou would come and he wouldn’t be there Perhaps it had happened already Time had come unspooled Had it been ten minutes? Hours? It didn’t matter Focus There was only the present You had only to open your eyes in the right direction to be whenever you wished

But there were an infinite number of directions and no compass, and it didn’t matter because Akiva couldn’t open his eyes He was pressed deep Contained This was being done to him

He was not where he needed to be He was taken The impotence of it, and at a moment when his hope had been so full he couldn’t contain it To be crushed do and robbed of will, when Karou aiting for him, when they had finally come to a moment that could be just theirs It was unbearable

So Akiva didn’t bear it He pushed

At once, the thunder Thunder as a weapon, thunder in his head He recoiled fro Thunder is sound, not barrier If that was all that was holding hiathered every fiber of his strength into a silent roar and pushed, and it exploded in hi

And he was through it, past it, into silence and the aftershock colors of his violent passage, and… his self He felt hi on the ground, and it was not into silence that he had spilled, but only into a pause between voices, the air taut with the tug of their discord

"It’s the wrong way"

It was a woe to hih not altogether unfah tier Also a woman "Should I have let him keep his appointment? Do you think it would be easier for hi his taste of her?"

"His taste? He’s in love, Scarab You must let hi it"

"By letting hih "But it must be his decision, can’t you see that? Or he’ll always be your enemy"

"Don’t tempt me, old woman Do you knohat I could do with an enemy like that?"

Another silence fell and echoed, dissonant with shock Akiva understood that they were speaking of him, but that was all he understood What choice? What ene there So he should know

When the other spoke, her voice was thin, rising out of the pit of her shock "Make a harp string of hirandson?"

Grandson Only for athis, did Akiva think, It isn’t randson He was a bastard He was--

"Only if I had to"

"How could you possibly have to?" This caun, Scarab You must end it That isn’t e are We’re not warriors--"

"We should be"

Concussions of shock

"We were," continued Scarab There was a tone of stubbornness in her, and the willfulness of youth clashing with age "And ill be again"